Eye of the Beholder
Eye of the Beholder is an episode from the original series of ThunderCats. Written by Kenneth E. Vose, it originally aired on December 13, 1985. Official Summary Jackalman ambushes Snarf and attempts to steal the Sword of Omens. This gives Panthro the idea to make a duplicate Sword as bait for the Mutants. Leaving Snarf at the Lair, the ThunderCats spread the word that the Lair is unguarded. Two Trollogs overhear this and inform the Mutants. Jackalman and Monkian go to the Lair, seize the duplicate Sword and capture Snarf. They hand over the duplicate Sword and Snarf to S-S-Slithe, who goes to Mumm-Ra with a deal for power. Mumm-Ra overpowers S-S-Slithe and seizes the Sword. The real Sword alerts Lion-O that Snarf is in trouble. Lion-O and Panthro rush to rescue Snarf from the pyramid. Lion-O summons the other ThunderCats with the real Sword, blasts through the pyramid's wall and saves Snarf. Confused by the real Sword in Lion-O's hand, Mumm-Ra summons the Eye of Thundera in his duplicate Sword. The Eye flickers and opens to reveal a mirror instead of the Eye of Thundera. Mumm-Ra is repelled by his own hideous reflection. Official Moral The ThunderCats' use of trickery in making a duplicate Sword of omens to trap the Mutants backfires when Snarf is caught and kidnapped by Monkian and Jackalman. But the inability of the Mutants to work together among themselves or with Mumm-Ra leads to Snarf's rescue. S-S-Slithe uses a might-is-right philosophy to take the Sword of omens and Snarf from the other Mutants. But his prediction that someone stronger always comes around proves correct when Mumm-Ra seizes the Sword from him. Lion-O, however, foils Mumm-Ra's hopes to learn the secret of the Eye of Thundera, by exposing the sword as a fake and using its mirror to reflect Mumm-Ra's evil image back upon himself. Mumm-Ra's inability to withstand the sight of his own image typifies the lack of self-respect felt by someone who knowingly does evil. The ability to make good moral judgments resides in each of us. Even S-S-Slithe shows he is aware of what he is doing by citing his philosophy that might is right. But we pay a price when we ignore our moral judgments and follow an evil course. Wrongdoing leads not just to the loss of respect by others, but to something much more critical. It leads eventually to the forfeiting of a precious asset, the ability to believe in respect ourselves. When we do something wrong, we feel guilty. This feeling serves a good purpose, because it reminds us that we have gone against our moral code. And when we ignore our moral judgments, we run the risk of losing our self-respect, like Mumm-Ra. Our goal should be like that of the ThunderCats, to live in harmony with our moral code and with ourselves. Characters Vehicles Locations Notes of Interest Animation Errors Notable Quotes Media This episode was released on the following media: DVD * Season 1 Volume 2 DVD * Season 1 DVD * Seasons 1 & 2 DVD Episode Screenshots External Links *Eye of the Beholder on IMDb *ThunderCats 1985 cartoon series on Wikipedia *ThunderCats on ThunderCats.org Category:Thundercats: 1980s TV episodes Category:ThunderCats episodes written by Kenneth E. Vose Category:Season 1 (ThunderCats 1980s)